Threads New Feature Controls Who Can Quote Your Posts

Users of Threads now have more control over who can quote their posts. This expands on a feature that lets Threads users choose who can respond to their postings (other platforms like X and Bluesky offer similar reply controls). Last month, Threads revealed its plans for quote controls. Last night, Adam Mosseri, the head of parent company Meta‘s Threads and Instagram, stated that all users can now access the function.

In her post, Mosseri expressed her hope that “this will help keep Threads a more positive place and give people more control over their experience.”

The option to limit quotes is available in the Threads mobile app, but it isn’t available on Threads on for desktop as of Saturday morning. Users have the option to limit their reply to “Profiles you follow” or “Mentioned only,” or they can open it to “Anyone” by bundling quote and reply controls into a single dropdown menu. It should be more difficult to “dunk” on others—a tactic when users quote another person’s post to make them appear dumb—thanks to these controls.

“But it’s good to dunk,” you say. “When someone posts something stupid, offensive, or dumb on X/Threads/Bluesky/Mastodon, I need to be able to alert my followers.”

Fair enough: I love a good dunk just as much as the next person when I’m not the one getting smashed. Fortunately, you may still take a screenshot of someone’s post, share it, and comment on it with a rationale for why it’s insulting, stupid, or inappropriate. This merely lessens the possibility that a string of dunks will cause the initial post to become widely shared.

Furthermore, it implies that, in theory, the original poster can continue to browse the internet without worrying about any hurtful remarks others may have made about them.